DAVID Cameron has promised the UK would fulfil its "moral responsibilities" amid a backlash over Britain's refugee intake after images of a drowned Syrian boy sparked an international outcry over the human cost of the crisis.

Related articles

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have agreed today to propose a permanent and mandatory system to take in refugees and asylum seekers in the European Union (EU).

Mr Hollande delivered a thinly-veiled swipe at the UK, saying in a press conference in Paris today: "There are countries - I am not going to name them here because we are here to work with everybody - and these countries are not shouldering their moral obligations."

This tragic image sparked an international outcry over the human cost of the crisis

Anyone who saw those pictures overnight could not help but be moved

David Cameron

The UK Government has opted out from United Nations (UN) and EU schemes that could see up to 160,000 asylum seekers redistributed from Hungary, Italy and Greece.

Mr Cameron said: "Anyone who saw those pictures overnight could not help but be moved and, as a father, I felt deeply moved by the sight of that young boy on a beach in Turkey.

"Britain is a moral nation and we will fulfil our moral responsibilities."

But the Prime Minister has insisted that taking "more and more" people was not the simple answer to the migration crisis, and that the focus should be on bringing "peace and stability" to war-ravaged parts of the world people were fleeing from.

He pointed out the Royal Navy had been involved in rescue missions in the Mediterranean and said the UK was the second biggest bilateral donor in the world to help with the Syrian crisis.

REUTERS

President Hollande said Europe is not doing enough to help fleeing refugees

Yet the Prime Minister has been blasted by both opponents and members of his own party for the Government's "walk on by" attitude.

Calling the current situation the "worst humanitarian crisis to reach European shores since the Second World War", acting Labour leader Harriet Harman wrote a letter urging Mr Cameron to step up Britain's response.

She said: "We are an outward-facing, generous-hearted nation, not one that turns inward and shirks its responsibilities. I know you will not want to be the Prime Minister of a Government that fails to offer sanctuary while our neighbours are stepping up to respond."

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond said Mr Cameron was "shaming the country" over the crisis and that Britain should take its "full quota" by welcoming 10 per cent of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe.

GETTY

Hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees have arrived on Europe's shores this year

He said: "When people, human beings, see other human beings in distress, when we see pictures of young toddlers lying dead on a beach, then the natural human instinct is to help.

"David Cameron's natural instinct is to walk by on the other side and that's why he's shaming the country."

Blaming the current crisis on Islamic State (ISIS) and people traffickers, Chancellor George Osborne said there was no "simple answer" but that Britain will continue to give foreign aid to worn-torn countries.

He said: "You have got to make sure the aid keeps coming - we have put £1bn of overseas aid in to help these desperate people.

"And of course Britain has always been a home to real asylum seekers, genuine refugees. We have taken 5,000 people from the Syrian conflict, we will go on taking people and keep it under review."